Dr. Virgilio G. Enriquez: The Father of Filipino Psychology

“Enriquez would be heard saying, “Psychology is too important to be left to the psychologists alone.””—Pe-Pua & Protacio-Marcelino, 2000

            Science is any knowledge. Being the reason why I will take the road of social science and focus on psychology (study human behavior and mental processes, as taught to us) in this essay. I dare say this will be different from others since I do not choose natural sciences, but it does not really matter because all of those are in themselves, science. My purpose in writing this is to recognize and in a higher take, to honor the father who understood us, who built the pillars of our own way of thinking and behaving—Dr. Virgilio G. Enriquez.

“Doc E”
           

from Google Images 

A native of Bigaa, Bulacan, Virgilio Enriquez was born on 24 November 1942. He is the youngest of five children of Arsenio Libiran Enriquez and Rosario Galvez Gaspar. His older siblings are Corazon, Manuel, Conchita, and Mabini (PSSP Online). Enriquez took his early education at the Cosmopolitan College; his elementary education at Espiritu Santo Parochial School at Sta. Cruz, Manila; his high school  at Colegio de San Juan de Letran; and his college education at the University of the Philippines. He was known to be religious and he once aspired to be a priest when he grew up. He was also a reader, who was staying all day at his school library (Nat’l Historical Institute, 1994). Enriquez was trained by his father to speak and converse in Filipino fluently since he was a child. In fact, “His father would always find time to have a discussion with him in Filipino. For example, he would ask the young Virgilio to read the day’s English language paper, but read it out loud in Filipino as if it was originally written in that language. Even with his Ph.D. dissertation which was written in English, he had to explain it to his father in Filipino.” (Pe-Pua & Protacio-Marcelino, 2000, p. 51)

            Virgilio Enriquez’ undergraduate course in U.P. was BA Philosophy which he completed in 1961. Two years later, he was introduced to the U.P. Department of Psychology where he took graduate courses in Psychology. In 1966, however, he had a scholarship grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to have further studies in the US, in Northwestern University of Evanston, Illinois. He had MA in Psychology, PhD in Social Psychology, and MA in Philippine Studies. From 1977 to 1982, he was the chairperson of the Department of Psychology in U.P. Virgilio Enriquez initiated the indigenous point of view in Psychology, he was one of the professors who taught using Filipino and he encouraged students to write their papers also in Filipino. These were his first steps towards developing Sikolohiyang Pilipino or Filipino Psychology. He emphasized “the need to understand the complex identification and understanding of social processes as the basis for defining Philippine indigenous psychology.” The Philippine psychology is a way to study and internalize the identity of the Filipinos as a people. (Nat’l Historical Institute, 1994)

            As a pioneer of Sikolohiyang Pilipino, he made many publications discussing indigenous psychology; he made himself a visiting professor to various universities in the country and abroad. He translated psychology articles in Filipino and wrote his own until he accumulated a library. He was the founder of the Philippine Psychology Research and Training House (PPRTH) and the 

Pambansang Samahan sa Sikolohiyang Pilipino (PSSP). The first ever International Congress on Indigenous Psychology and Culture in Manila on December 8-10, 1994 was when he was given the posthumous award of being Ama ng Sikolohiyang Pilipino.

            Enriquez died at age 51 on the 31^st of August 1994 in San Francisco, California due to cancer. He never married. He left his family and this world. But his legacy remains with us.

Sikolohiyang Pilipino

from Google Images

“He was a guest lecturer who insisted that tinapay and bread were quite different when you conjure images of each in your head.” –Aurora C. Mendoza

            This is Doc E’s first step in Sikolohiyang Pilipino. He gave importance to the language used when teaching psychology. If Filipinos were to learn about their psychology, they should use their mother tongue. If Filipinos were to learn about psychology, they should be aware that the western point of view is different from the indigenous point of view:
            From the beginning of the periods when the Philippines was colonized by Spain, and then the USA, academic psychology, or the psychology taught in schools, was predominantly Western in theory and   in methodology. Many Filipino intellectuals, notably the two Philippine heroes Jose Rizal and Apolinario Mabini, expressed dissatisfaction at the pejorative interpretations of Filipino behavior by Western observers. (Pe-pua & Protacio-Marcelino, 2000)

Sikolohiyang Pilipino is defined by the same authors as “[referring] to the psychology born out of the experience, thought and orientation of the Filipinos, based on the full use of Filipino culture and language . . . It is based on assessing historical and socio-cultural realities, understanding the local language, unraveling Filipino characteristics, and explaining them through the eyes of the native Filipino.” The principal goal of Sikolohiyang Pilipino is to have a “national identity and consciousness, social involvement, and psychology of language and culture”. It is then concerned with the “proper applications to health, agriculture, art, mass media, religion, and other spheres of people’s daily life.”

            However, the particularistic kind of psychology that is Sikolohiyang Pilipino is not to be branded as anti-universal since it is a step towards contributing to universal psychology. Because what is generally considered as “universal” psychology is the psychology of the west,
            It is assumed that all human beings are the same and their context in time and space is not important. In so doing it became ‘‘the Psychology’’ by which all other psychologies are judged. Thus, one does not question a textbook with the title ‘‘Introduction to Psychology’’ used to teach undergraduate psychology students in the Philippines, when the correct title perhaps should be ‘‘Introduction to American Psychology’’. This is the brand of psychology that Sikolohiyang Pilipino objects to. (Pe-pua & Protacio-Marcelino, 2000)

Sikolohiyang Pilipino also according to Rogelia Pe-Pua and Elizabeth Protacio-Marcelino, is contributing to a truly universal psychology which is based on diversity and equality. Diversity because it is a psychology that is drawn from the experiences and particularities of various cultures, and equality, because it respects these various psychologies as equally important and relevant and does not attempt to impose its ideas on others. Dr. Virgilio G. Enriquez’ one of the most significant awards was the Outstanding Young Scientist of the Philippines Award from the National Academy of Science and Technology in 1982, in recognition of his work in Sikolohiyang Pilipino. He contributed in social sciences on a national level.

            In ending this essay, I would like to impart a message from Rogelia Pe-Pua, then student and close friend of Doc E, “Napakalinaw ng paniniwala ni Doc E na isang mahusay na sandata at behikulo ang lathalain. Maaaring pumanaw ang isang tao, ngunit ang kanyang kaalaman ay mananatiling panghabambuhay kapag ito'y nakasulat. Kaya masuwerte tayo dahil masinop na isinulat ni Doc E ang mga ideya at kaalaman niya, nang sa gayon ay hindi tayo maligaw sa pagtahak sa landas ng Sikolohiyang Pilipino.”

            Dr. Vigilio Enriquez understood us as a people; he contributed something Filipino to science, and that is pride and honor for us. It may not be a tangible invention, but it matters deeply to us Filipinos. If not for the pioneering efforts of Doc E, we will not discover our own psychology. If not for Doc E, we will not have our identity.


References:
Dr. Virgilio G. Enriquez. PSSP Online. https://sites.google.com/site/pssponline/dr-virgilio-g-enriquez. 08  March 2014.
Mendoza, Aurora, 2011. Tungkol kay Doc E. PARA KAY V: Sa Alaala ni Dr. Virgilio Enriquez. https://www.facebook.com/notes/dr-virgilio-g-enriquez/para-kay-v-sa-alaala-ni-dr-virgilio-enriquez-aurora-c-mendoza/235234179845402. 07 March 2014.
National Historical Institute, 1994. Virgilio Enriquez. Filipinos in history. 4th volume. Manila. National   Historical Institute.
Pe-Pua, Rogelia, 2011. Si Doc E sa Buhay Ko. PARA KAY V: Sa Alaala ni Dr. Virgilio Enriquez. https://www.facebook.com/notes/dr-virgilio-g-enriquez/para-kay-v-sa-alaala-ni-dr-virgilio-enriquez-rogelia-pe-pua/235290703173083. 07 March 2014.
Pe-Pua, Rogelia & Protacio-Marcelino, Elizabeth, 2000. Sikolohiyang Pilipino(Filipino psychology): A   legacy of Virgilio G. Enriquez. Asian Journal of Social Psychology (2000) 3: 49–71. Wiley Online Library. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-839X.00054/pdf. 07 March 2014.

Keanne Pauline O. Samar
2013-16445